Witching For Joy (Premonition Pointe #3) - Deanna Chase Page 0,74
wanted to.” Joy scanned the details of the room from the twinkling fairy lights that matched the ones on her own tree perfectly to the funny Santa garden gnome. Each and every detail was a memory of hers from her childhood, and he’d recreated it.
She reached out and clasped his hand. “This is so wonderful, and I love it, but I don’t understand. Why did you do all of this? It’s not even Christmas.”
He gave her a soft, shy smile, and she had to fight the urge to kiss him stupid. It was a problem lately. Anytime he smiled, she wanted him. She was starting to think he’d become an addiction, except neither of them seemed to mind. “When you talk about your childhood, it always comes with a wistfulness, almost an air of longing. Like if you could go back, you would.”
Joy pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment. “Maybe. I do miss it. There was such a joy and innocence about winter back in those days. And I do miss the snow.”
“Okay, yeah. Well, when I got to thinking about where this relationship between us is going, I kept coming back to this.” He waved a hand at his handiwork.
“That you want to go back to my childhood?” she asked, raising one skeptical eyebrow.
He chuckled. “No. Not at all. I love the adult Joy exactly as she is.”
“Love?” she echoed, her entire body tingling. “Did you just say love?” It wasn’t something they’d said before. Joy had known her feelings for Troy were strong, but she hadn’t been ready to put that out there. Now, though…
“Yes, love. I love you, Joy. I’ve known it for a while. And I think you love me, too.”
“I do,” she breathed, placing a hand over her heart. “I love you.”
His smile widened. “That’s good. Very good.” He scanned the room again, and when he met her gaze, he said, “I did all of this to show you that with me, nothing is off the table. If you want the whimsy of your childhood back for the night, I’ll do what I can to make it happen. If you want travel, I’ll get the tickets to anywhere you want to go, whether that’s camping in the Sierras or flying to Italy.
“If your deepest desire is to stay right here in Premonition Pointe for the rest of your days, I’m good with that too. But I might request that you move in with me. Or, if you don’t like my house, we’ll find another one with a spectacular view, because if there is one thing I know about you, Joy Lansing, it’s that you’re always in a better mood when you wake up to the sound of the ocean.”
There were tears in her eyes, and Joy didn’t even bother to try to blink them back. Was this guy the one she loved for real? He was promising her a dream life, her dream life, on a silver platter and volunteering to share it with her as a true partner, one who understood her and cared about what she needed. It wasn’t something she’d ever had with Paul, and she just prayed that she gave at least half as much back to Troy as he gave to her.
“Your house is perfect,” she said through her tears.
“Yeah?” He slipped his hand in hers. “So you’ll move in?”
She nodded.
“What about Kyle?”
“Are you inviting him, too?” she asked.
“If it’s a dealbreaker, then yes. But we’ll need to do some soundproofing.”
She laughed and shook her head. “It’s not a deal-breaker, and I’m one hundred percent certain he wouldn’t want to anyway. He likes when I stay over at your place. He’s fine at home. Plus, he’ll be moving back to his own apartment soon, and he has Jackson to take care of him.”
“That he does.” He stood and offered her his hand. “Care to dance?”
She glanced around. “With no music?”
“Alexa, play “The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra.”
The music came to life, and Joy let Troy lead her around the winter wonderland he’d created just for her. Love and hope and possibility filled her up, made her whole, and she knew deep down that he was the one. Troy was the love of her life, and no matter what happened in their careers or family life, they’d find a way to do it all together and most importantly, do it all while having fun. Her days of walking blindly through her life, waiting for it